Idle Hands
by Lionel

chapter 6

Night after night of practice had taught Lorenzo to endure, and even enjoy, the modest torment of lying beside her unable to touch, and he had his ways of managing to get through the night without giving in to the primitive impulse to lay claim to what he wanted. Counter-programming, distraction, and sheer strength of will all helped him to keep his hands to himself. Even the heightened temptation of this particular night, with her lying there in his t-shirt and his desire running high off the unexpected thrill of the evening’s battles, didn’t prevent him from finding some rest in a light sleep brushed with fantasies. Alexis, on the other hand, didn’t quite understand what awaited her, and she sank carelessly into the kind of deep sleep that brings forth more powerful dreams less easily recovered from.

She woke up entangled with him, in a maze of arms and legs, of skin and cotton, warm and tingling with the simple pleasure of human contact, unexpected though the instance was. Somehow in their sleep they'd come together in the center of the bed, whether by gravity or magnetism or centripetal force, wrapping heedlessly around one another in the blessed half-knowingness of sleep. Momentarily freed from dwelling on the threats and offenses that bound them together and kept them apart, they were drawn together by a lighter thread, the ethereal strand that was always there, running between a man and a woman beneath the layers of learned behavior, wherever the instinctual drive to mate was at least a theoretical possibility.

It wasn't morning yet, merely the soft grey pre-dawn, and awakening was gentle. There was no bright light or alarm to usher them into harsh reality, just the softest summons, the merest invitation, to a hazy consciousness that held promise of continued pleasure, even heightened pleasure, of taking the steady murmur to a peak, as long as they were very, very careful and didn't make any sudden moves. This lazy, delicious, forbidden mingling could continue only so long as they didn’t burst the fragile bubble that surrounded them in sleepy, erotic languor and kept the admonishing voices at bay.

Even as she inched toward consciousness, she kept her eyes closed, determined to soak as long as possible in the rippling sensory pool that surrounded her and stroked most every nerve. Her dominant impression was of a warm, naked, muscular male form twined with her own, embraced and embracing, meeting her at every sensitive place, except the one where the buzzing pleasure drew to a throbbing, aching need.

Slowly she began to take kinetic inventory. She was on her side and sprawled across him so that his mass filled her embrace. Her cheek rested on his warm chest, and her legs twined with his, her top leg caught between his thighs, her bottom leg tangled beneath his calves. He had one hand in her hair, the other low against her back, slipped inside the waist of the too-big pajama pants she wore. He wasn't quite naked, he still wore his underwear, and she felt him through the layers of cotton pressed hard against her thigh.

At first she thought he was asleep, but then she realized it was his thumb tracing exceedingly slow circles over her tailbone that was making her body hum. They barely moved against each other, but it felt like they were making love, the heavy charge between their bodies crackling with electricity, rumbling and growling like a thing alive. It felt fragile, and she didn’t dare disrupt it, but she couldn’t help the purr that vibrated in her throat.

Eventually his fingers left her hair and trailed down the length of her spine, following its curve past the bottom edge of her t-shirt and beneath her pajama pants. He cupped her bare flesh with both hands and eased her farther atop him until she lay flat along the length of him. She lay still, but she thought she might die from anticipation, crushed by the weight of desire that barely allowed her to breathe. She wondered that the bed didn't creak with the pounding of their hearts. Finally she dared to lift her head and open her eyes. In the faint light, his eyes were a smoky blue, just as uncertain and heated as her own, but before she knew it she was being drawn in and kissed, and then she was sinking into him.

“We shouldn’t,” she whispered against his mouth, when he finally let her go.

“I know.”

He took her words as acknowledgment that they were going to anyway, and he kissed her again as his hands went to work. He eased her pajama pants down, baring her hips, her bottom, all the way down her thighs. The air was cool against her skin, and then his hands warmed her, rubbing over her flesh, his fingers drifting between her legs in a tantalizing tease. She raised herself up on her hands and knees, and his boxer briefs went next, pushed down to his thighs and then kicked off. Her eyes went down as he sprung free, and then her hand. She'd been looking for weeks; now it was time to touch. He groaned as her hand moved over him, and the torment made him rough. He grabbed at her breasts, squeezing their weight through the cotton, pinching her nipples hard until he made her cry out and distracted her from her exploration. She braced her hands on either side of his head, feeling hungry and demanding now, and she claimed his mouth in a messy, urgent kiss. He grasped her bare hips to move her where he wanted her, and she felt him prodding, positioning himself but not demanding entrance just yet. It took enormous willpower for her not to just shove herself down on him, but she waited, drawing out the moment until it hurt.

“Just this once," she mumbled against his neck, lost in concentration.

"Just this once," he agreed.

His hands slid up her sides, under the t-shirt, soft cotton yielding to softer, warmer skin, and he traced her curves gently now. She hovered over him, waiting, and when his hands moved to her back, stroking lightly, encouraging her, she brushed her breasts across his chest, and then with the slightest shift of her hips she began to take him in. He slid in easily, farther and farther, filling her every inch, seemingly endless gliding pleasure giving way to fireworks as she rocked against him. She let out a low, gasping whimper.

“Oh, Lorenzo,” she moaned.

*****

Alexis woke up suddenly, gasping for air, her heart pounding furiously in her chest. The room was still dark, and she blinked as she tried to gather her bearings. Where was she? And what the hell was going on? She felt exhilarated, edgy, a little frightened. A sheen of moisture covered her skin, sending tiny shivers rippling up and down her spine. She took several more deep gulps of air.

Sex. It was about sex. God, she felt good. On the verge of something powerful. She closed her eyes, trying for just a moment to find where she’d been and ride the wave as it crested, but it was no good. The moment was gone; the wave had gone back to the sea.

As her surging adrenaline receded and her heart rate slowed, her mind drew focus. More came back to her. Lorenzo. She was having sex with Lorenzo. And it was amazing. An accident, and a bad idea, but amazing. Oh, god. That wasn’t good. She sat up abruptly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her throat was dry, aching like she’d been holding back tears. She swallowed again and again, involuntarily, as if some poison pill were lodged in her throat and her choices were to swallow it or choke.

It was just a dream, right? Then why could she still feel the imprint of his hands on her breasts? She didn’t dare turn around to look at him for fear of what she’d find. She glanced down at her clothes. The pajama pants were twisted halfway around her body, but she was still wearing them, which was good. She didn’t feel like she’d had sex. It was just a dream. A very intense, vivid, achingly incomplete dream. A very disturbing dream.

She took a deep, cleansing breath, in a bid to put it all behind her, and then she heard the mattress creak and felt the last thing she wanted to feel: Lorenzo’s hand on her back, pressing the damp cotton to her skin.

“Are you okay?” he asked, rubbing between her shoulders.

He didn’t sound particularly sleepy, and her spine straightened as she tried to pull away from his hand. She nodded, but then she realized he might not see the gesture in the dark, and she choked out a response. “Fine.”

He was sprawled across the bed, on his side, almost curled around her, with the sheet tangled about his waist. He was closer and a lot more naked than she would have liked. She struggled to sort out what was a dream and what was real and what to make of the lingering physical sensations that still flooded her lust-soaked brain. It all seemed so real. Maybe some part of it had been. She wouldn't put it past him.

“Did you – “ She cut herself off before she could ask the damning question.

His eyes flickered in the darkness. “Did I what?”

She shrugged. “Never mind.” It wasn’t worth the confession.

He rubbed her back again, up and down and up, and then squeezed her shoulder. “Bad dream?”

She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her, if he somehow knew – had she said his name aloud? – and she tried to measure the expression on his face. He looked sincere enough, but it was too dark to discern whether that knowing glimmer was in his eye. She turned away, worried he would read her mind.

“Yeah.”

His thumb rubbed gently at her skin just above the ribbed crewneck. “Can I get you some water?”

“That would be nice. Thank you.”

Lorenzo climbed out of bed and headed to the kitchen. Alexis watched him, relieved to see he was still wearing his underwear, but not at all relieved by the very vivid recollection she had of what was under there or the rather strong inclination that still crept in her belly. She fell back on her pillow, draping her arm across her face.

What was she doing dreaming about him? Lorenzo Alcazar. The man who bound her to him by blackmail. And not just a dream. An erotic dream. A very memorable erotic dream that shook her to the core, that still clung to her skin. The kind of dream that she knew wouldn’t let her go for days. What a betrayal by her unconscious mind. Granted, the man was built and he’d provided plenty of visual fodder for her imagination and he was the only man she’d kissed with any serious intent in an eternity, but still. He was the enemy. He was every single awful thing she said about him and more. How could she still be a little tempted? It was just so … wrong.

It was his clothes. It had to be. Wearing them was a mistake, though she hardly had a choice. She had known it was a mistake when she first slipped them on. The intimacy of it had taken her breath away, and she’d just stood in the bathroom, hugging herself, struggling with the way they made her feel. She felt sexy in his clothes, but worse than that she felt close to him. The clothes smelled more of laundry detergent than of him, but somehow they spoke of him just the same, and wearing them she felt as if she were enclosed in his arms and twined around his body. It was confusing, to feel this way about a man she despised, and dangerous to feel this way about a man who slept next to her at night, well within arm’s reach. Overconfident woman that she was, she’d done it anyway. And now she was dreaming about the jerk.

He came back with a glass of water. “Feeling better?” he asked, rubbing her upper arm as he handed the glass to her.

Of all the times for him to be decent. Husbandly. Kind. She needed a dose of nastiness right now, anything to shake her out of this weird twilight where she felt so intimate with him, where he seemed like her lover, like someone who belonged in her bed. She desperately needed him to be mean so she would stop thinking this way. Like it would be perfectly okay for her to reach for him and get tangled up again.

“Much,” she lied. She didn’t quite meet his eyes. She was convinced he would see everything, right through to her burning core. And then he’d be insufferable. She would lose her only advantage.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” He lingered in front of her, and now she could see a faint grin. “Tuck you in? Tell you a story?” His voice dropped low. “Give you a kiss goodnight?”

She just shook her head. She didn’t trust herself to say no.

For a second she thought he might kiss her anyway, and when he walked away she was disappointed. He lay down in bed again, gripping the bars of the headboard as always, apparently oblivious to his victory. She studied him thoughtfully as he lay there with his eyes closed. Maybe it was only natural that he might pop up in a dream or two. He was convenient, and willing, and no doubt able, and no one else was currently laying claim to her fantasies. Convenience and the clothes. That was all it was. Apparently her sexual imagination was just that lazy. She’d have to give it some exercise to make sure this never, ever happened again. And she’d go shopping tomorrow for some nice flannel jammies. That would do the trick.

Eventually she lay down, too, though she had little hope of sleeping. She still felt exhilarated and unsettled, and she was vividly aware of his presence so close beside her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to sleep anyway. Who knew what other betrayals awaited her on the other side of consciousness? But it was only four o’clock, too early to get up, so she lay there staring at the ceiling, getting her thoughts in order.

She was in danger of losing control. The other night in the limousine was one thing: a mistake, an aberration, a momentary lapse in hostility, and there were plenty of excuses for getting carried away. And though she would admit to sometimes enjoying them, the increasingly intimate public displays of affection were gamesmanship more than anything. The private flirtation was a battle, just another front in their war, one that she was supposed to control. But his advance in her unconscious was something else. Desire was acceptable; dreaming about him was not. She couldn’t afford to get carried away, at least not yet.

*****

It was half past five by the time Alexis finally fell back to sleep, and her alarm went off less than an hour later. A dusting of snow covered the ground, and with the promise of inches more to come over the course of the day, Alexis woke up wishing she could stay home. After her restless night, she would have preferred to throw on sweats – if she still had them, that is – and curl up on the couch with her daughter and a pile of books, notwithstanding certain intrusion by her irritating spouse. However, there were tasks to tend to at the office, and wheels to set in motion at home. A long, hot shower helped to shake off the heaviness of the night and the last remnants of her dream and sharpen her focus on what had to be done. It would begin over breakfast.

*****

“Can I get you a refill?” Lorenzo offered as he stood up from the kitchen table.

Alexis lowered her newspaper and glanced at her almost empty coffee mug. “Oh, no, thanks. I’m meeting with Ric at nine. I’m sure he’ll bring me coffee.”

Lorenzo was taken aback, but he didn’t say anything until he returned to the table. They were both straining to be polite and pleasant this morning, but solicitude and good manners couldn't quite hide the power struggle taking place beneath the cheerful surface. The result was a faintly sinister domestic tableau.

“So you’re going to the office today?” he asked as he sat back down.

Alexis set down her newspaper and looked at him cautiously. “Of course. I have quite a lot to catch up on after my day off yesterday. Is that a problem?”

Lorenzo didn’t answer immediately. “I thought I told you you weren’t to see Lansing.”

“That was yesterday morning,” she reminded him politely. “Last night you agreed to lift all restrictions on who I see.”

Lorenzo frowned at her interpretation, having a slightly different view himself. “I guess we’ve never really settled the question of whether you could continue to work at all. I don't recall anything about that on your list.”

“It wasn’t on the list because you haven’t prohibited it.”

“Yet.” The correction was offered with a smile.

“I don’t think you will, Lorenzo,” she said with as much persuasion as confidence. “Not if you’re thinking clearly. Despite your protests about my hours, I think you like it that I work.”

Lorenzo nodded slightly. “I’m not opposed to it on principle; it’s just the practicalities I don’t like. I want you to be more available to me.”

“It seems to me that we can address your concerns if I make a few adjustments to my schedule and workload.” She smiled. “Compromise, Lorenzo. It’s our new mantra.”

Lorenzo smiled back. “Why not take a little time off, just a year or two, while Kristina’s so young. I know you’d enjoy having more time with her.”

“Yes, I would, but it’s important to me to work. And I think I’m setting a good example for her. She’s learning that she can take care of herself and that she doesn’t need to rely on anyone for anything.”

His brow wrinkled in a frown. “That’s a pretty heavy lesson for a two year old. Can’t it wait?”

“Not for me.” There was nothing lighthearted in her tone anymore.

“Why is it so important to you?”

“It’s personal.”

She tried to turn her attention back to the newspaper, but he put his hand over hers. “Tell me. Please.”

She considered it very briefly, and then shook her head. “It’s not simple.”

“Neither am I. I want to understand why you feel that you have to work. It will help us find a compromise.”

She looked at him warily. “You promise you won’t use what I tell you to hurt me?”

“Of course.”

“That’s not an ‘of course’ for us, Lorenzo. Promise me you won’t try to keep me from working.”

“I promise I will make an honest effort to find a solution you can live with.”

His phrasing made her frown, but after squinting at him another moment, she proceeded anyway. "You know that my father was Mikkos Cassadine?” Lorenzo nodded. “When I was a child, I didn’t know that he was my father, for reasons that I’m not going to go into. I believed I was a distant cousin taken in by Mikkos and Helena out of grudging charity when my parents died, and I was treated as such. I was raised with my brothers, Stefan and Stavros, but I was treated very differently. I ate with the servants; I had no tutors; I was told again and again that I was entitled to nothing. That I was nothing. And that I should be grateful every day for the act of charity that put a roof over my head and gave me food to eat." She laughed dryly. “As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not very good at being grateful.”

She paused to take a sip of coffee, forgetting that her cup was empty, and instead cradled the empty cup in her hands. Lorenzo stood up and extended his hand in a silent repeat of his earlier offer. She handed him the cup and continued as he went to fill it.

"The only reason I received any kind of education at all is because my cousin Stefan snuck me his books and taught me himself. If not for his kindness -- and courage, for he did it at some risk to himself -- I never would have been anything, but thanks to Stefan I was educated and did eventually get away. I became a lawyer, and I didn’t need to rely on anyone, not even Stefan, for the food on my table or the clothes on my back.”

She paused to take a bite of her melon, but then winced as if it were bitter to her. From his vantage point across the room, Lorenzo watched with interest as she washed it down with a sip of juice. He didn’t buy her appeal for a minute. Oh, the explanation was probably true enough, as all the best lies were, but its disclosure was calculated. She wasn’t offering up a piece of her soul without some covert purpose. She was willing to go to great lengths to soften him, to appeal to him emotionally, so he wouldn’t forbid her from continuing at her job, and he doubted the true reason was so sentimental. It must have been very important to her indeed.

“Taking some time off isn’t going to change that, Alexis,” he commented. “I’m not trying to make you dependent on me.”

She regarded him seriously. “I’m not finished, Lorenzo. I loved Stefan, and I was grateful to him. He sustained me physically, intellectually and emotionally during a very unpleasant childhood. His love was the only love I knew for a very long time. And I was always grateful to him. But even Stefan held my gratitude over my head. He never tired of reminding me what I owed him, and invoked my debt to him in demanding some very costly sacrifices from me. “

Lorenzo smiled humorlessly. “Yet another thing your brother and mine had in common.”

Alexis’s face was expressionless as she absorbed the comment and set it aside. “You use my secret to demand sacrifices from me. But you don’t expect me to be grateful to you for not telling Sonny, or for the roof you force me to live under or the meals you force me to share with you or the jewelry you force me to wear. I … appreciate that about you. You simply threaten me, and for some reason I find that far preferable to games of guilt and gratitude.”

“And you think that changes if you stop working?” Lorenzo asked. “I can assure you I won’t be holding my breath waiting for a thank you.”

She shook her head. “I won’t be kept, Lorenzo. I won’t depend on you or anyone else to provide for me and my daughter. There is always a price to pay. I can’t put myself in that position. I will try to cut back on my hours to make myself more available to you, but I won’t stay home. That’s a deal point for me.”

Lorenzo nodded thoughtfully. She was playing him hard, and he had a very good guess why. “It’s not just your hours, Alexis. I don’t like you spending time with Lansing.” He set her coffee in front of her and sat back down in his chair.

“Ric is no threat to you, Lorenzo,” she assured him. “He’s been waiting very patiently for you to let me go, but once I explain to him that won’t be happening anytime soon, I’m sure he’ll walk away gracefully.”

“Lansing’s pursuing you?” Lorenzo asked sharply, surprised by her description.

“Well, I wouldn’t say pursuing me,” Alexis equivocated. “More like waiting to pick things back up. I had to end our relationship rather abruptly just as things were getting … more serious. It’s a little unfinished.”

“That’s it,” Lorenzo erupted, pushing his chair back roughly. “If you can find a way to do your job without dealing with him, maybe stop doing criminal defense work, we can talk. I’ll work with you on a compromise. But I’m not going to have my wife around an ex-boyfriend in hot pursuit.”

She took his hand as if to calm him, but her words had the opposite effect. “That’s not what it’s like, Lorenzo. And no matter how hard Ric pursues and no matter how unresolved my feelings for him are, I’m not going to give in. I’m married to you, and I’m not going to have an affair.”

Lorenzo stood up abruptly from the table, yanking his hand from her grasp. “I’m going to spare you the temptation, Alexis. You’re not to see Lansing anymore. I’m sorry, but that’s not negotiable. We’ll find some other way for you to work.”

He stormed off to his office, leaving her alone at the table, a very satisfied smile forming on her face. It felt good to reclaim control. He was so predictable: his suspicion, his jealousy, his instinct to find a solution they could both live with. She gave it twelve hours before he came back to offer her a compromise. She already knew what it would be, knew what it had to be, but she would let him think of the idea himself.

*****

Alexis had lied about seeing Ric that morning, but she did swing by his office after lunch, popping her head in the door on her way to request some records from the public file room.

She cleared her throat to draw his attention. “Care to explain to me why you felt it necessary to offer my husband your impressions of my dress the other night, Mr. Lansing?”

Ric looked up from his desk with a big smile on his face. “Was that wrong?”

She gave him a quick nod as she sank down in a chair. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten this, but I’m married to an obsessively possessive gangster, and now he thinks we’re having an affair.”

“Aren’t we?”

“No.”

“Oh. Then what’s with all these meetings?”

“Conversations between friends.”

Ric scratched his head. “Huh. I thought of them as dates.”

Alexis raised her hands palms up. “Has there been some kissing or other sexual activity I’m unaware of?”

“Well, they’re very early stage dates. You’re not that kind of girl.”

“Ah. I had no idea you were such a patient man. But I’m going to have to call it off anyway. I can’t date you anymore.”

“Is there someone else?”

“Yes. My husband.”

Ric frowned. “Are you two dating now?”

“More or less. And he wants to go steady. He doesn’t want me to see you anymore.”

“Did you tell him I’m harmless?”

She smirked. “No, I told him you wanted me. I told him you were waiting for him to let me go so we could pick up our steamy affair where it left off. But I assured him I was fairly certain I could resist giving in to my feelings for you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Nice try.”

“No, really,” she nodded. “That’s what I told him.”

Ric tossed down his pen. “Well, it’s a wonder I’m not buried ten feet deep in cement by now. What kind of reaction were you expecting, Mrs. Alcazar?”

“The one I got. Lorenzo reacted just as I hoped.” She smiled very contentedly.

Ric narrowed his eyes at her. “I can’t tell you how much that smile terrifies me, Alexis. Care to explain why you wanted to be cut off from your last tie to the outside world? From your lone confidant?”

She wagged her finger in the air. “You’re no longer my last tie to the outside world," she corrected proudly. "The rest of the restrictions are gone. You’ll notice Frick and Frack aren’t hovering outside the door today. Lorenzo and I had a little negotiation last night. I can go where I want and see who I want.”

“Except me,” Ric pointed out, obviously hurt. “You threw me to the wolves.”

“I didn’t throw you to the wolves, Ric. I traded you for, like, half a dozen all-stars. That should tell you how valuable you are to me.” She wasn't certain about her sports metaphor and waited for his eyes to cloud over in confusion, but they didn't; they just stayed hurt. “You’re my knight, Ric,” she assured him, resorting to a more comfortable analogy. “But Kristina is my king. I have to sacrifice you to draw him out. Even now you’re helping me protect her.”

Ric sighed reluctantly. “I’m glad, but that isn’t going to keep my seat warm when you don’t come by anymore.”

She leaned forward and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry. It had to be done. Lorenzo's so determined to keep me away from you and your supposedly dishonorable intentions that he's going to offer me a job."

“And you're going to accept?” Ric asked incredulously.

She grinned. "Eventually."

“And then you’ll be a mob lawyer again. That’s a lot worse than just being a mob wife.”

“No, it’s better. I’ll have access.”

“Yeah, and you could be implicated in what he does if you’re not careful.”

“I will be careful. And I’ll get the leverage I need. I’ll get truckloads of leverage. More than he has on me.”

“What happened to your brilliant plan?” Ric asked. “The inspiration that came to you over the veal?”

“Lamb.”

“Whatever. You were going to make him need you so you had leverage.”

“My brilliant plan worked brilliantly, as far as it went. I did make him need me, just as I said I would. But I was a little more successful than I’d intended to be.” Ric gave her a questioning look, and she spilled the rest quickly as if it were less humiliating that way. “He’s decided he really likes having me as his wife, he wants to throw sex in the deal, and he has no intention of letting me go. Ever.”

Ric’s mouth fell open as he listened, and then he sighed heavily. “I told you this would happen, Alexis. What did you expect?”

“I expected him to develop a preference for keeping me around, and I thought I could use that preference to make my time with him more tolerable. Unfortunately I’d have to describe his attitude as a little stronger than a preference right now, and while on the one hand that's useful because it gives me a better hand to play, it also means this game won't be over any time soon and I'm going to need a lot more leverage to stay in it."

Ric shook his head. "You're digging yourself in deeper. You're getting more involved with him, not less."

Alexis shrugged. "I'm married to him, Ric. I'm deeply involved whether I like it or not. It's naïve to think that who he is isn’t going to touch me or that if I just play dead until he's tired of torturing me I'll be able to walk away from this unscathed. The only way to win is to engage him.”

“So you’re going after his king,” Ric concluded quietly. “You’re either very brave or very foolish.”

“I’m very clever, Ric. Trust me."

He started to roll his eyes, but then he stopped and studied her for a moment. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? Your eyes are shining, your skin's glowing. This excites you, playing this game with him. The more dangerous the better."

"I'm doing what I have to do, Ric. Whatever pleasure I get out of it is incidental, and it certainly doesn't come from the danger. I'm not reckless. I have no intention of sacrificing myself or Kristina. I’ll play to a draw if I have to.”

“Meaning you’ll stay married to him?”

“If necessary. The status quo has its advantages. Kristina is safe.”

“And you’re a prisoner.”

“Not any more. Not entirely. I’m winning some of the battles now.”

“And you’re willing to stay locked in mortal combat with him for the rest of your life?”

Alexis shrugged. “To protect Kristina, yes. No matter what Lorenzo does, there’s a good chance Sonny will find out eventually, probably from Carly, and Lorenzo can help me protect her. He can play the same dirty games Sonny will play, and he can hide us away under lock and key if it comes to that. In a peculiar way, he’s not such a bad husband for me.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Do I need to remind you what the man has done to you?”

“No, of course not. But he does have his advantages, and I think he has the potential to turn it around." Her mouth turned up in a wicked, self-satisfied grin. “It turns out that my husband can be trained after all. My initial attempts at behavior modification have been quite successful.”

Ric regarded her with exasperation. “He’s not a golden retriever, Alexis. He’s a dangerous arms dealer and not a very nice man. You toy with him, and he’s going to bite you.”

“No, you’re right,” she agreed. “He’s not a golden retriever.” She tapped her finger thoughtfully against her cheek. “He’s more like a Doberman. With proper training, an excellent guard dog and devoted companion.”

*****

Lorenzo called with his offer even sooner than she had expected. It was three o’clock when the phone on her desk rang. “Alexis Davis,” she answered.

“It’s your husband. I have a proposal for you. A solution.”

“I’m listening.”

“Come work for me. Be my lawyer.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“I’m offering you a compromise, Alexis. Hear me out.”

“I’m not going to be a mob lawyer. Not again.”

“That’s not what you would be. You would be counsel to Alcazar Industries, which is a legitimate business.”

“Which traffics in guns.”

“Which is completely legal and above board. Not much different from what you’ve done for the Cassadines and Quartermaines in the past. And Corinthos-Morgan for that matter.”

“Which I deeply regret. Besides, I’ve been focusing on criminal defense work for quite some time. I prefer it.”

“No doubt from time to time I’ll call on you in that capacity as well.”

“I don’t want to work for you, Lorenzo.”

“But you want to work. I’m offering a way that you can.”

“I don’t want your patronage, Lorenzo. I don’t want you to make up a job for me.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. It’s a real job with real responsibility and real authority.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“An excellent hire, for one thing. And I don’t want you spending all your time and energy away from me. I don’t want you around Lansing and I don’t want you around those criminal lowlifes you represent.”

“You could forbid me to work.”

“And then we’d go back to full-scale hostility around here and I don’t want that. You’re right. I do like it that you work. And I understand what you told me about why you need to. I don’t want to take that away.”

“You just want to control it.”

“I’m offering you a compromise, Alexis. Don’t answer now. Give it some thought. In the meantime I’ll put together a formal proposal and pull together some information for you to review about the company. It should put your mind at ease.”

She sighed heavily. “I’ll consider it. That’s all I can promise.”

“Fair enough. On another note, I want you – ” He cut himself off.

“You want what?”

“I want to ask you if you’ll be able to join me for dinner tonight. I thought we might go out after Kristina’s in bed.”

She could hear the strain in his voice from the effort he made not to convey his request as an order. She smiled to herself. “I don’t see why not.” Positive reinforcement worked well with children and dogs.

“Wonderful. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like to go?”

“No. You can choose.”

“Okay. Excellent.” He sounded almost giddy. “I’ll see you when you get home. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”

“Thank you. You, too.”

Alexis’s smile grew when she hung up the phone. Not just a job offer, but a polite invitation to dinner. Yes, he had excellent potential. A definite amenability to correction at the hands of a skilled trainer. This would be easy, and a pleasure, now that she had recognized and embraced her task. Lorenzo Alcazar was going to learn to heel.

chapter 07